HEPPNER — Jeff Wenholz of Irrigon narrowly defeated Melissa Lindsay of Heppner for Position 2 on the Morrow County Board of Commissioners in the May 17 primary election.

Lindsay is the Position 3 commissioner and the board’s vice-chair. Incumbent Commissioner Don Russell of Boardman did not run for reelection to board Position 2.

Lindsay received 1,287 votes to Wenholz’s 1,313, with six write-ins, for a total cast of 2,606. Wenholz received 50.4% to Lindsay’s 49.4% in the final tally. He received a majority of votes, plus one; the number required to win, was 1,304.

The race did not qualify for an automatic recount, despite Wenholz’s thin margin of victory, county Clerk Bobbi Childers reported. To qualify requires a difference of just a fifth of 1% of all votes, or about 5.2 in this case, well below Wenholz’s 26-vote advantage. That’s just under a 1% difference.

Childers certified the results on June 8. Wenholz will take office for a four-year term in January 2023.

“I would like to thank the voters of Morrow County for electing me to represent them,” Wenholz said. “I want to repair relationships between the board of commissioners and the employees of Morrow County and other stakeholders with which the board interacts. I also want to bring a sense of good governance and policy for the board and county government as a whole.”

David Sykes of Heppner won the Position 3 race by a comfortable margin on May 17. Sykes got 50.3% of votes cast, followed by Mike McNamee of Irrigon with 30.8% and Gus Peterson from Ione at 18.7%.

The two new commissioners join Jim Doherty of Heppner, board chair and Position 1 holder.